It is so important that they carry the momentum and confidence from the win against Hull into the Bristol City game. They cannot let the performance and the result against Hull count for nothing.

The players have to take great belief from Friday night and start putting an unbeaten run together.

If you are going to be a successful side, you have to go nine or 10 unbeaten. When you do go on those runs, it doesn't hurt as much when you do lose a couple of games.

SIX-MONTH REPORT

Gary Rowett has been Derby manager for six months - and here's my appraisal so far.

Before the win against Hull, I would probably have been a little bit more critical but that result made Gary's start a steady one.

I can very much relate to his style of football - strength and aggression, and getting from to A to B quickly. I call it proper English football, not the long ball but football with an understanding, with a purpose and with control.

We saw the green shoots of that against Hull.

Gary Rowett (Image: Andy Clarke)

I was more impressed with the performance than the result, to be fair, because I saw a difference in the team. There was a bit more tempo.

Gary is still adjusting and trying to get his team.

We are only six league games into the season and so he is still trying to get players to do what he wants them to do.

Against Hull, I think we saw signs of that.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen Gary bring more new faces into the building this summer and the jury is still out on some of his signings, which it will be at this stage.

I think Andre Wisdom has probably been the best of the signings so far, while Curtis Davies has been steady but he has not really set the place alight.

Tom Huddlestone - and I am not being hard on him - has got all the attributes with his passing ability but, without the ball, he has to work his socks off, like he and Bradley Johnson did against Hull.

By the looks of it, I think Tom Lawrence could turn out to be the best of the signings.

He has a little bit of the quality of Nigel Callaghan.

Tom Lawrence in action for Derby County against Hull City (Image: Press Association)

When Lawrence crosses the ball, there is a bit of purpose with it. He put the corner on Curtis Davies' head in the win against Hull and the ball he put in for Johnson's first goal still had a bit of sting on it when it reached the midfielder.

Lawrence is whipping balls in. Nigel Callaghan used to do that, and it's great for strikers.

Hopefully, Lawrence will be a big asset.

He is the type of player we should be signing - 23 or 24-year-olds from Premier League clubs. If they do well here, and we are still not in the Premier League, then there is real value in the player.

DEBUTS BROUGHT BACK FOND MEMORIES

I watched Max Bird and Callum Guy make their Rams debuts at Barnsley and it brought back memories of my debut.

Being a Derby lad, all I ever wanted to do was play for Derby and so it was even sweeter when I did.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was against Charlton at the Baseball Ground in December 1989.

Max Bird on his Derby County debut at Barnsley (Image: Andy Clarke)

I was told an hour before the Charlton game that I was playing. Arthur Cox pulled me to one side at the pre-match team meeting and broke the news. There were no real instructions, Arthur just said: "Come on, son, you deserve it."

I was 19, and all of sudden a rush of tension, nerves and doubts hit me like a ton of bricks but then I remembered my progression through the youth team and through the reserve team, and I knew I was ready.

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When you talk about strike pairings - Bobby Davison and Phil Gee, Goddard and Dean Saunders - I was lucky because I watched those partnerships, especially Goddard.

Like Goddard, I wasn't quick and so I had to get a hold of the ball, hold it up and bring players into play.

Goddard was a role model for me because that is the player I wanted to be. Sitting behind that dug-out at the Baseball Ground at 16 years of age and watching the first team was a real education. I watched Goddard, I never took my eyes off him.

Craig Ramage during his Derby County playing days

I was up front with Saunders in the Charlton game and I'll never forget the support I got from all of the players in the dressing room before kick-off. They were brilliant, all of them, and they gave me the confidence and the strength to go out there.

Once I crossed that white line, I loved every minute of it.

The match went very quickly and it was the proudest moment of my career. I will always thank Arthur for giving me my debut, giving me that opportunity.

I think afterwards he suggested I was going to be the next Kenny Dalglish! No pressure, then!

Did I buy all of the papers after the game? Absolutely, and my granddad kept scrapbooks for me.

I remember thinking after the game, if I didn't do anything else in my career, I could still say I played for Derby County.

FOR THE RECORD...

Here is the Rams team that faced Charlton in front of a crowd of 14,590 at the Baseball Ground: